How To Outline A Nonfiction Book: A Step-By-Step Guide

Do you dread taking the time to write an outline for a book? Would you rather just put pen to paper and start to write and see where it takes you?

Does it feel like a waste of time to begin with the “extra” work of writing an outline?

It’s possible to write a nonfiction book by the seat of your pants, but having an outline helps you know where you are going with your message so you are able to write in a straight line instead of taking time-wasting detours.

Without an outline, you will likely spend extra time cutting, revising, and rewriting your original work.

Outlining your book gives you a solid plan that will keep you on track so you can write your book efficiently and with confidence.

Why You Need An Outline for Your Nonfiction Book

Whenever you want to get something done, it’s so much easier if you can follow a set of steps that are clear and simple, if not exactly easy. 

This is where you remind yourself of why this book is worth the work you’ll put into it.  Think of the smiling faces of your readers. Think of their gratitude for a book that finally answers a nagging question or solves a thorny problem of theirs. 

Take this one step at a time. You’ll get there. And your readers will be glad you did.

Benefits of Outlining a Book

There are big benefits to outlining your book before you start writing it. Here are four benefits that I’ll go into more detail on later:

1) You can write your book quickly once your outline is complete.
2) You have a high word count, which will keep your production high.
3) It prevents writer’s block.
4) It does not take a long time to create a good outline.

Also, with an outline, you can avoid the “cursor of death” and writer’s block because you’ve mapped out what you will write about. This will help plow through your first draft with a clear path of what content should go in each section.

Here are the steps to creating an outline for your nonfiction book in a way that gives you the structure you need to create the map to your manuscript.

How to Outline a Nonfiction Book Step-by-Step

With the above benefits in mind, there are four steps to creating a really effective outline for your book that you will thank yourself for later.

Starting your book out with the knowledge that you already know what direction you are heading in will help you be more confident as a writer and feel like you know your goals and are ready to achieve them.

Step 1: Get clear on your book’s main idea or main question. 

Before you write a book, you should know why you’re writing it and what problem you want to solve for your reader — or what questions you want to answer. 

In other words, what is your book’s main idea? Once you know this, you can break it down into all its supporting ideas and arrange them in an order that makes sense and will give your reader clear, effective answers or solutions right from the beginning. 

As for getting those ideas out, there are three popular and effective ways to do that. 

Step 2: Find your hook for your book.

The hook is simply a quick elevator pitch that best describes your book. This provides an overall direction for where you to take the narrative and how you will solve the reader’s problem.

The sooner you can identify your hook, the more time you will give your subconscious time to surface more quality content that you can add to the book.

Sitting on your idea for a week or two can give you more clarity before you begin outlining. You may also want to get input from other people and do additional research on the topic to see if you want to change your hook in any way before you get started with your outline.

Step 3: Use the big brain dump.

The next step is to sit down and write everything you can think of about your topic. Steve Scott’s technique is to start writing with a pen and paper.

Next step is to write fast. Your goal here is to get everything in your head out and written down. During this brain dump, don’t worry about grammar, punctuation, or how ordered everything looks. In fact, if you want to draw images or use arrows go ahead and do it.

Do anything you have to do to record your thoughts and ideas. Don’t stop to analyze your thoughts or think too hard about the next thing that will come to mind. Instead, you want to try to unlock your subconscious thoughts in a free flowing way that you can clean up later on in the writing process.

It is important to spend at least 1-2 hours on the brain dump process. Don’t rush through it to get it over with. You do want to write quickly, but don’t be in a rush to complete it.

You may feel like you are running out of ideas about your topic, but if you pause for a few minutes, something else important will likely come to mind.

Step 3a: Create a mind map for your book (expanding on the main idea).

Start with a posterboard or something you’ll find easy to keep on hand (for reference) and put your book’s title (idea) at the center. Then add title ideas for your chapters in their own bubbles surrounding the title and connect them to the hub with a line. 

From there, you can add supporting ideas for each chapter title/idea until you run out of room (or ideas). 

Step 3b: Create a list of your supporting ideas or sub-questions. 

The second option is for those who prefer making lists — bulleted or otherwise. 

The great thing about bulleted lists (or numbered) on Google Docs, et al, is you can add supporting ideas by inserting a carriage return and tabbing to create an indented sub-list. 

Once you’ve got your list of chapter titles (or ideas for them), brainstorm as many supporting ideas as you can think of. 

Step 3c: Try the index card method.

Steve Scott uses index cards to begin organizing his key ideas from the brain dump session.

When writing your index cards, you don’t need to go into great detail. Just write enough on each card to remind yourself of the point you want to make or refer yourself back to a resource that you will need to reference.

The index card method will allow you to easily move your ideas around and restructure your book. Steve uses this tactile approach to help create a solid backbone for his outline that will be turned into the first draft.

Once you write your idea on the index card, you simply cross it off your brain dump page.

Begin the process by writing down 10-12 chapter names on individual index cards (use the blank side, not lined). After that you’ll do the same process for sub-chapters.

When you finish this process you’ll end up with 3-5 sub-chapter index cards for each chapter (total index cards of 40-60). 

You’ll continue to add web links, stories, research, quotes and resources to these cards. These index cards will serve as prompts so you’ll always know what you need to write next in completing your book.

Step 4: Tweak the index card content.

Last, go through your index cards and get rid of anything that either is not relevant or does not help solve a problem for the reader.

Hopefully, your brain dump produced more ideas than you needed, and some of them are probably not beneficial to your message.

This is the time to delete those and toss those index cards. This will help to better structure your framework and give you a good order for your book that makes sense.

One additional step you can take is to type all of the information from your index cards into a document to create an actual digital outline. The process of typing it out will further clean up your thoughts and allow you to see them all together. It will give you another angle to view the structure of your book before you begin writing it.

Step 5: Create your book outline.

Once you’ve got your finished mind map, list, or pile of index cards, you can transfer all your information to the book outline. But this is not where it ends. 

You’ll work on this as you go, adding and subtracting information and details until you have something that you cannot wait to turn into a book. 

And it won’t get there until you really get to know your chapters. 

Another Nonfiction Book Outline Formula

Barrie follows a pretty traditional outline formula that she learned in her college days as an English major writing term papers.

She pulls up a blank page on the computer and types in the working title for a book. Since she write self-improvement books, she creates a working title that relates to the ultimate benefit of the reader.

For example, with Barrie’s book, Peace of Mindfulness: Everyday Rituals to Conquer Anxiety and Claim Unlimited Inner Peace, the how-to part is what kept her focused on the goal of the book.

  • Then she can flesh out how to get readers from Point A, which is where they are now, to Point B, which is where they want to be.
  • She thinks about how to lead the reader to understand more about the problem or challenge they’re facing, as well as the benefits of dealing with the problem and how the problem is impacting their lives.
  • And finally, she offers solutions and actions to help change or correct the problem.

Breaking it down this way allows you to see a clear path in your outline to move the content from problem to solution if you are working on a nonfiction book that provides solutions.

Outline Chapter Topics

She outlines the different chapters and makes bullet points on any ideas that fit into each of the chapters. The first chapter almost always is an in-depth explanation of what the topic is about. (See below for more info on outlining a book chapter.)

Gather Data

During the outline process, she gathers any relevant statistics, research, and quotes that she might use as gets into the meat of the writing process, and plugs these into different chapters in the outline.

Reconfigure

All of this can be moved around or changed during the writing and editing process, but thinking about the topic in this linear way gives you some structure to work from as you dive into writing your book.

How to Outline A Chapter of a Book

Once you have a rough outline of your entire book, it’s time to get better acquainted with each of your chapters. To create an outline for each one, answer these questions: 

  • What question or idea is the main driver of this chapter?
  • How do you want to start each chapter (an anecdote, a meaningful bit of research, a definition…)
  • How can you keep your reader entertained as you share what you know? 
  • How do you want to end each chapter? 
  • What do you want your reader to gain by reading this chapter? 

Make a list of the questions your book will answer for your readers. The more value you add to their lives, the more likely they are to finish and recommend it. If this is a book you wish had existed for you, what questions would it answer?

Then, for each chapter, you’ll want to include the following in your outline: 

  • Hook — gets their attention, and leads to the…
  • Thesis — your main argument, followed by your…
  • Supporting content — which can include…
  • Stories and examples — eventually leading to a…
  • Recap or summary of your main points, which should reinforce the…
  • Reader’s #1 takeaway — which should…
  • Segue to the next chapter — to keep the reader engaged.

Phew! Keep these essentials in mind, and your readers will love every chapter in your book. That kind of magic starts with an outline. 

Having said that, we don’t mean you should rigidly impose an outline structure for each and every chapter you write. Your inner pantser wouldn’t like that. And it’s best not to give your inner plotter too much power. It goes right to its head. 

So, here’s a short list of ideas for getting started on your chapter outline: 

  • Create a bulleted list of your chapter titles and flesh them out with sub-bulleted and sub-sub-bulleted supporting ideas. Go crazy! 
  • Freewrite some content for each chapter (just some), and summarize the highlights on your outline. 
  • Google your chapter title idea and see how many related questions and topics come up. How many of those could you use in your chapter as subheadings?

Don’t Forget the Front and Back Matter Pages

The pages before your first chapter also deserve to be included in your book’s outline. Consider what you’ll want to include in the following: 

  • Testimonials page/s (optional)
  • Title page 
  • Copyright page 
  • Page with an epigram, quote, or message (optional)
  • Dedication page (optional)
  • Table of Contents (a streamlined version of your outline)
  • Foreword (optional — written by an authority in your chosen field)
  • Preface (optional — written by you)
  • Acknowledgments (optional)
  • Introduction — written by you

The pages after your last chapter ends are worth planning, too. If nothing else, you can make it easier for your readers to learn more about you and to leave a review. 

Don’t forget the following: 

  • Conclusion — written by you to wrap things up. 
  • Afterword (optional — to share final thoughts about the book)
  • Appendices (optional)
  • Glossary (optional)
  • Index (optional)
  • About the Author page (give your readers a way to get a hold of you)
  • Books by [Author name] page (optional)
  • “Thanks for reading” page (with a politely-worded request for a review)

Do you feel prepared to outline a nonfiction book?

Outlining your book is like creating your daily “to-do” list. You could get things done without the list, but you’re much more productive when you have it.

Your outline helps you remember what want to include in the book. It keeps you focused and moving along in a logical direction. And it gives you some visual goals for your writing as you see clearly what you need to work on to complete your book.


More Related Articles:

How To Write A Book For Kindle About Your Expertise Or Passion

13 Proven Tools for Discovering Bestselling Book Ideas

9 Creative Writing Exercises To Awaken Your Inner Author


As comedian, actor, director, writer and producer, Michael Showalter, says, “I am a big proponent of writing a great outline. That way you can avoid hitting a roadblock. There is no worse feeling than writing yourself into a corner but if you’ve figured it all out in the outline then you won’t have that problem.”

Here is how to outline a book in a way that gives you the structure you need to create the map to your manuscript. #selfpublishing #writing #author

2 thoughts on “How To Outline A Nonfiction Book: A Step-By-Step Guide”

  1. Hey Steve can you answer me that Question which popped up during scrolling your awesome site:
    With all the great free Content on your site, why should i sign up for the Authority Pub Academy anyways? Best wishes, André

    Reply
    • Hi Andre, Thanks for the compliment about our blog. That’s a good question. The Authority Pub Academy goes deep with more than 90 video tutorials. Of course, it is not for every writer is helping both new and seasoned authors to build a business around writing books. If you want more detail you can have a look at the sales page here: https://authority.pub/sp-15/ or contact us at support@authority.pub

      Thanks! Ron
      Authority Pub Academy Partner

      Reply

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